Welding Tips and Tricks

just wanted to post a picture of todays beads, I'm welding on 1/8" mild steel with a multimatic 215 set at 120-125 amps. Something isn't right and I just wanted to get yalls opinion. I am also pretty sure I have a gassing issue as my gas lens is gunked up(wont forget to turn on the gas again, I promise), and maybe a travel speed issue, so if anyone has any insight to what you think I am doing wrong please don't hesitate to chip in, thank you to all in advanced for your help.

Also, to those that dont vomit when you see the welds I will give you 5 dollhairs each...

It's not the end of the world. Concentrate on making straight lines with your welds. Wandering all over doesn't look too good. Clean your metal as best you can before beginning practice. You'll not pass any inspections with that work but it won't fall apart either.

Dan

It's not the end of the world. Concentrate on making straight lines with your welds. Wandering all over doesn't look too good. Clean your metal as best you can before beginning practice. You'll not pass any inspections with that work but it won't fall apart either. Also, show us the other side of the metal.

Dan

you owe me 5, and I just finished dinner..

Did you clean the material using a grinder and flap disc? If not that could be the issue with the dirty gas lens

If you're laying one bead after another it'll be best to let the plate cool, or dunk it in water, if the plate is too hot you won't get good welds.

At the end of the weld taper off the amps while adding a little filler to prevent the crater.

Usually with a gas issue, you see a lot of sparks, and tiny little "wormholes" start to open up right as you're running the bead. I see no wormholes, so it may be the usual "you need more time practicing" proper TIG techniques to get really good beads going. Just watch Jody's TIG basic tips videos. You need to practice consistency, and don't keep on practicing on a hot piece. Switch to another piece when it's too warm to pick up. The orange dust of death means you just dipped your tungsten, so make sure you are propping your hand/arm somewhere and not free-arm'ing it. You'll never get consistency that way. Always stop welding when you dip and get into the good habit of switching your tungsten or regrinding it.

I took a flap disk to both sides and the edges before welding, the craters are definitely me not tapering off, something im trying to work on. My tungsten is a dull gray color, so thats why i was thinking its a gas issue plus i can see some spatter on the gas lens itself. I usually put a few beads on one end then go to the other end then cool it. Should I be cooling more often like say every three beads?

P.S. Dollhairs are in the mail!

Thank you gentlemen

What's your cfh set for your flow. If it's too high it's possible to draw air in to your weld zone. Especially if you are long arcing it. Long arc can also contribute to over heating and discoloration of the tungsten and the work piece.

cfh is 20 i believe, is it possible im using the wrong filler rod as well? im using a 3/32 er70s2 or does it not matter at this present time?

70s2 is probably the most common filler for mild steel.

Glad I'm not the only one! Practice will help. Look at my posts, and see the improvement I made in just 2 weeks. Don't get discouraged. 20 cfh may be a little high for gas flow depending on the cup size you are using. For my work so far, I have 3/16 material, #6 cup, 3/32 2% lanthinated tungsten, er70s2 rod, about 15 cfh flow, machine set to 130 amps, .5 pre flow, 15 post flow. Your using a little thinner material, so maybe a little lower on the amps, but otherwise a very similar set up. When I started my beads were in an arc. Last weekend I concentrated on making strength lines. I also found just starting the arc and observing the effects of pedal manipulation on the arc and puddle without moving or dipping rod helped a lot. I also added cheater lenses in my hood, my 64 year old eyes aren't what they used to be! Head position so you can see the arc and puddle is important. I found when I started I could see everything, but by the time I was getting to the end of a bead, my hand and the torch were in the way of seeing. I repositioned so the material was more to the side rather than directly in front of me, and moved my head lower and was able to odserve the process more from the side than from above. This gave a much better view of what was happening for the full pass. Simple things that made a big difference! Have fun and practice!


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dgapilot wrote:Glad I'm not the only one! Practice will help. Look at my posts, and see the improvement I made in just 2 weeks. Don't get discouraged. 20 cfh may be a little high for gas flow depending on the cup size you are using. For my work so far, I have 3/16 material, #6 cup, 3/32 2% lanthinated tungsten, er70s2 rod, about 15 cfh flow, machine set to 130 amps, .5 pre flow, 15 post flow. Your using a little thinner material, so maybe a little lower on the amps, but otherwise a very similar set up. When I started my beads were in an arc. Last weekend I concentrated on making strength lines. I also found just starting the arc and observing the effects of pedal manipulation on the arc and puddle without moving or dipping rod helped a lot. I also added cheater lenses in my hood, my 64 year old eyes aren't what they used to be! Head position so you can see the arc and puddle is important. I found when I started I could see everything, but by the time I was getting to the end of a bead, my hand and the torch were in the way of seeing. I repositioned so the material was more to the side rather than directly in front of me, and moved my head lower and was able to odserve the process more from the side than from above. This gave a much better view of what was happening for the full pass. Simple things that made a big difference! Have fun and practice!


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#8 Furick cup, im going to give it another whirl after work today and see how things go, sucks that I cant take my welder home yet, but when I do I expect to see a massive jump in skill...hopefully. Instead of spending time in bars I plan to spend time at a bench running beads.

I hear you. I work away from home and am only there on weekends. Have to shoehorn my welding between honey do projects and other hobbies.


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You are using 100% argon? Not the co argon mix for mig welding. It looks like bad gas to me. Try laying a bead without filler and see if you can get the nice shiny look.

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Just wanted to post a quick update, lowered the amps and cfh a bit and switched to a thinner filler rod and here is how it came out. Also a tig finger is priced way lower than its value. still made a few mistakes, but overall i think its an improvement. Thanks for the help to everyone.

Beads look much better, but you still need to clean the metal a great deal more. It should be shiny before you TIG. And if the material is pretty thin, clean the backside too else it will draw the impurities through the material onto the weld side.

Good job, keep it up. Amazing how small things can make a real difference.


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went with a longer stick out today and got a few shiny beads today, however i havent been cleaning the backside, i will add that to my pre weld prep work. Again appreciate all the help fellas